Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Makes New $215,000 Investment in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Key Points

• Applied Finance Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena Corporation, purchasing 3,552 shares valued at approximately $215,000 in the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors increased their stakes in Ciena, with notable purchases including $2,398,000 from Assenagon Asset Management S.A. and a 40.4% increase by GAMMA Investing LLC.
• Ciena's stock received a "strong-buy" rating upgrade from Wolfe Research, while JPMorgan raised their price target from $83.00 to $105.00, reflecting increased analyst confidence in the company's performance.

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,552 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ciena by 108.6% during the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ciena by 73.7% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in Ciena by 1.1% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 16,649 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,006,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in Ciena by 77.2% in the fourth quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period. Finally, Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Ciena by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,711 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on CIEN shares. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on Ciena from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Citigroup decreased their target price on Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Ciena from $83.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Wolfe Research raised Ciena to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Northland Securities set a $100.00 price target on Ciena in a report on Monday, June 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $85.54.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.57, for a total transaction of $28,899.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 43,618 shares in the company, valued at $3,601,538.26. The trade was a 0.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.90, for a total transaction of $488,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 368,880 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,522,472. This represents a 1.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 42,269 shares of company stock worth $3,306,811. 0.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN traded up $1.40 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $92.47. The company had a trading volume of 343,986 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,326,566. The company has a market cap of $13.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 128.28, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.11. Ciena Corporation has a 52 week low of $44.89 and a 52 week high of $101.44. The business's 50-day moving average is $80.06 and its 200 day moving average is $76.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a current ratio of 3.40.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.08). Ciena had a net margin of 2.46% and a return on equity of 5.08%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. Ciena's quarterly revenue was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Ciena

Ciena Corporation provides hardware and software services for delivery of video, data, and voice traffic metro, aggregation, and access communications network worldwide. The company's Networking Platforms segment offers convergence of coherent optical transport, open optical networking, optical transport network switching, IP routing, and switching services.